132 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



hills on the shore near a place called Okawa, near Kainga- 

 roa. The bone, which is represented in Plate VI., fig. 12, had 

 evidently been, carefully shaped and carved, and I had no 

 difficulty in recognising in it a very typical example of that 

 extremely interesting instrument of primitive races known to 

 ethnologists as the " bull- roarer." Probably this bull-roarer 

 is of ancient date, for the whalebone of which it is made is 

 honeycombed with decay. Moreover, Mr. Shand had never 

 heard of such an instrument existing amongst the Moriori ; 

 though this might readily be accounted for if, as in other 

 races, the bull-roarer was a sacred article — projbably, indeed, 

 in the case of the Moriori highly tapu, for these people 

 "possessed the tapu in all its forms and terrors" (Shand). 

 The specimen is broad and flat, elliptical in cross-section, and 

 remarkably short, with one end much broader than the other. 

 The side edges are approximately straight, except for the 

 notching to be mentioned directly, the broad end slightly 

 excavated or curved inwards. The narrow end is a good deal 

 worn with age, and has a deep notch in the middle, which 

 may possibly be the remains of a hole through which a 

 string may have been passed. The side edges are also deeply 

 notched near the narrow end, evidently to allow of secure 

 tying. Beyond these "fastening-notches" the edges are 

 beset with smaller notches all along, and this notching is 

 continued along the broad end. The broad, flat surfaces are 

 also grooved. On the best-preserved side there is a pair of 

 longitudinal grooves extending from end to end, one on each 

 side of the middle line. In the region of the fastening- 

 notches, which are a good deal broken away, these longi- 

 tudinal grooves are crossed at right angles by two others. 

 On the opposite surface, which has apparently been more 

 exposed to the weather, only the two longitudinal grooves 

 can be distinguished. The total length of the specimen is 

 exactly 6 in., the breadth at the narrow end about If in., and 

 at the broad end about 2f in. (6 by If to 2f). 



Much has been written of late years about the bull-roarer, 

 which, as a toy, is familiar to many an English schoolboy. 

 It is essentially a noise-making instrument. The schoolboy 

 takes a thin wooden lath, notches the edges, ties a striug to 

 one end and whirls it round rapidly in the air. A peculiar 

 humming noise is produced which is very suggestive of wind. 

 In a specimen which I made recently I find that when hum- 

 ming, or " buzzing," the instrument also rotates rapidly about 

 its long axis, and that unless it does so no noise is produced. 

 Whether this rotation about its own axis is necessary in all 

 cases I cannot say. 



In a more or less typical form the bull-roarer is distributed 

 amongst native races over perhaps the greater part of the 





